Question 1 a) Describe and discuss the major trends and forces
that are changing the marketing
landscape in this age of relationships. (20 marks)

Acompany that makes shopping carts for supermarkets and other stores recently purchased some new equipment that reduces the labor content of the jobs needed to produce the shopping carts. prior to buying the new equipment, the company used 6 workers, who produced an average of 79 carts per hour. workers receive $16 per hour, and machine coast was $49 per hour. with the new equipment, it was possible to transfer one of the workers to another department, and equipment cost increased by $11 per hour while output increased by four carts per hour. a) compute the multifactor productivity (mfp) (labor plus equipment) under the prior to buying the new equipment. the mfp (carts/$) = (round to 4 decimal places). b) compute the productivity changes between the prior to and after buying the new equipment. the productivity growth = % (round to 2 decimal places)

Which of the following businesses is most likely to disrupt an existing industry? a. closer connex developed an earphone that receives emails and text messages and converts them to voice messages. the first models had poor reception, but they rapidly improved over time. b. mega technologies reconfigured the components used in its touchscreen tablets to create a new type of wearable device for use in restaurants and other service industries. c. particle inc. developed a teleportation technology that can transport physical materials instantaneously across great distances. d. altrea added advanced camera technology to its premium line of smartphones so that they would take the highest-quality photos of all phones on the market.

Frost corporation incurred the following transactions during its first year of operations. (assume all transactions involve cash.) 1) acquired $1,900 of capital from the owners. 2) purchased $435 of direct raw materials. 3) used $290 of these direct raw materials in the production process. 4) paid production workers $490 cash. 5) paid $290 for manufacturing overhead (applied and actual overhead are the same). 6) started and completed 250 units of inventory. 7) sold 140 units at a price of $6 each. 8) paid $130 for selling and administrative expenses. the amount of raw material inventory on the balance sheet at the end of the accounting period would be: